Gandalf's Adventures in Babysitting
by Foodie
Summary: Gandalf decides to babysit a group of hobbit children to give Frodo a night off.


Gandalf's Adventures in Babysitting

1392 S.R.

Pippin-2, Merry-10, Frodo-24, Sam-12

Merry and Pippin's parents and Bilbo were all off on a holiday for a few days, which meant that since Frodo was the oldest, he was in charge of all his cousins. Frodo and Merry had gone to Pippin's house to stay together while the adults were gone.

Frodo had been heavily relying on Pippin's older sisters Pimpernel and Pearl for help looking after all the other kids. Being an only child, Frodo didn't have much experience looking after children. He used to live with Merry before his parents died, but Merry was pretty independent and didn't need to be looked after.

Gandalf had come over to Bilbo's for a visit, only to find Bag End empty. As he wandered through Hobbiton, he ran into Sam who was going through town with his father. "Good afternoon, Samwise Gamgee, how are you today?" Gandalf asked, smiling down at Sam.

Sam looked up at Gandalf and smiled. "I'm very well, sir. What brings you to town?"

"I came to see Bilbo, but he's not here. Do you know where he is?"

"He's on holiday with his family. Frodo's over at the Took's place looking after all his cousins," Sam explained to Gandalf.

"Is Merry there too?"

"Yes sir."

Gandalf had to see this. He thanked Sam and took off for Tuckborough. The sun was getting ready to set when he reached the hole and knocked on the door. Gandalf could hear screams and crashes inside the hole and the sound of pattering feet coming to the door. Slowly the door opened and the face of a little girl peeked out at him. "Hello, is Frodo here?" he asked the girl. The girl saw how big Gandalf was, became very scared and screamed, then slammed the door shut on his face. Gandalf heard more footsteps and the door opened again, this time it was Frodo.

"Gandalf! What brings you here?" he asked.

Gandalf looked at Frodo before answering. His curly hair was dusted with flour and he had dark circles under his eyes. His yellow shirt was stained with something red and his pant leg was torn up to his thigh. Smiling, Gandalf observed, "Well, you look like you've kept busy today!"

Frodo looked exhausted. The expression on his face was that of one who had seen the horrors of war and had lived to tell the tale of it. "Pippin was up before sunrise. He's been a real handful." Frodo sighed. "And you don't even want to know what Merry did this morning." Frodo sighed again, then remembered his manners and invited Gandalf inside.

Pimpernel came into the main room with her little brother Pippin in one arm. Two year old Pippin sucked his thumb as he gazed with wide eyes at Gandalf. Frodo introduced them and called the rest of the kids into the room to say hello to Gandalf. The six children were quite enchanted by him, and he was equally enchanted by them.

All of a sudden, Gandalf decided to give Frodo the night off. He looked like he deserved it. "You go get some sleep and I'll look after the kids tonight." Besides, Gandalf had always enjoyed studying hobbits and a night observing hobbit children could be quite educational.

Frodo looked relieved at the idea of sleep. He went off to a quiet bedroom and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Gandalf looked down at the kids and took a deep breath. "Have you had your supper yet?" he asked them.

"Not yet, we were getting it ready when you came," answered Pearl, Pippin's fifteen year old sister.

"Well then, let's eat," Gandalf said, heading towards the kitchen. There was a table heavily laden with bread, meat, cheese, milk, pies, and biscuits. Gandalf sat gingerly in a chair and ate his fill while watching the others eat and yell and laugh. Hobbit children can be very noisy unless they are told to be quiet.

Pimpernel, Pearl and Pervinca ate like proper hobbit ladies should. Pearl helped Pippin eat his supper. She had to make him eat the bread and cheese because all he wanted were the biscuits. Merry tried to get his cousins to join him in an eating contest, and finding no takers, had his own contest. Merry won, it was really no contest at all, but he ate so quickly, he began to choke on a rather large mouthful of bread. Gandalf gave him a hard whack on the back and dislodged the bread. Then Merry went back to stuffing his mouth again as though nothing had happened. Gandalf shook his head in amazement and disbelief.

Soon supper was over and Pearl shooed everybody out of the kitchen while she cleaned up. Gandalf asked the kids what they wanted to do. "Can we play Find the Hobbit?" asked Pervinca. They explained the rules to Gandalf who agreed to play. He put his hands over his eyes and counted to fifty while all the kids ran and hid themselves around the hole.

When he reached fifty, he began to look around for them. He found Pervinca hiding under the table in her father's study. He found Pimpernel behind the bookcase in the main room. He found Merry in the pantry eating the rest of the biscuits. That left Pippin. He looked everywhere for him. The other kids looked too, with no luck.

Gandalf began to get a little nervous at the thought of having lost the baby. He was standing in front of the fireplace in the main room when he heard a small stifled giggle. He looked around for the source of the sound and saw his hat on the floor. It moved slightly and laughed. Gandalf walked over to the hat and lifted it up off the ground. There was Pippin! "Boo!" shouted Pippin before laughing. Gandalf joined in; all the others came in and saw where Pippin had been hiding and laughed too.

Done with the kitchen, Pearl came and scooped Pippin up and took him to the bathroom for a bath before she put him to bed. Gandalf was telling stories to the children when he heard a gigantic splash. He heard Pearl scream and then, a wet, naked Pippin flew out of the bathroom, ran down the hall, and into the main room with the other kids. He ran around them and shrieked wildly. Pippin hated bath time. Pearl walked into the room with her hands on her hips. She was soaking wet. Gandalf reached out and caught Pippin. Pippin squirmed and squealed in Gandalf's arms as Pearl walked over to collect him. Pippin's bath time was uneventful after that.

Pearl was exhausted by the time she got Pippin to sleep, so she decided to take a relaxing bath herself. Gandalf continued with stories in front of the fire. The children loved all his tales about dwarves and elves and men. He told them of the legend of how one day a king would return and lead his people to greatness far from the Shire. The children were not sure whether Gandalf was telling the truth or making up a story. He was very good at that.

After a while, Gandalf took a quick head count of his audience and realized someone was missing. Frodo and Pippin were asleep. Pearl was taking a bath, Pervinca and Pimpernel sat at his feet; Merry! Where was Merry?

Gandalf took a break from the stories to go look for him. He wasn't in the kitchen or the study. As he walked down the dark hall to look in the bedrooms, he saw a small silhouette outside the bathroom door. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he realized it was Merry, kneeling outside the door, peaking through the keyhole in the bathroom at Pearl who was still taking a bath.

"MERIADOC BRANDYBUCK! What on Middle Earth are you doing? Get away from that door!" Gandalf said in the sternest of voices. Merry jumped, startled out of his spying and walked over to Gandalf. He hoped Gandalf wouldn't punish him.

"You and I will have to have a long discussion on the importance of privacy," Gandalf said to Merry.

"Is that my punishment?" Merry asked smartly.

"No, stand in the corner, that's your punishment." Gandalf led him to a corner of the front room and made him stand there for the rest of the evening.

What was wrong with that boy? He knew Merry could be rambunctious, but he never thought him capable of being rude to his elders! That's what comes of over-indulgent parents, Gandalf thought to himself. He knew all about how Merry's parents just let him go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. He knew they spoiled him rotten too. What he needed was a good spanking to straighten him out, but that wasn't for him to do.

Gandalf continued with his stories to the well-behaved hobbit children and then sent them all off to bed. He found an empty guestroom with several beds in it. Pushing three of them together, he was able to lie across it and fall asleep. He had never felt that tired in a very long time.

Gandalf was still sleeping when he was rudely awoken by a hobbit jumping on the bed. The hobbit sat on Gandalf's stomach and pulled on his beard until he opened his eyes. Pippin sat looking down at him; he was smiling at Gandalf. Gandalf picked Pippin up, set him on the floor and got up to eat breakfast. Pippin trailed behind him. Gandalf looked over his shoulder, Pippin laughed, and yelled, "I chase you!" He ran after Gandalf who pretended to be very scared of Pippin and let him catch him when they reached the kitchen.

The kids greeted Gandalf while they ate. Frodo was in much better spirits. He had a different outfit on since the other one was ruined. He and Gandalf sat together at the table, discussing the hardships of raising kids these days, while Pearl sewed Frodo's torn pants and the kids ran around in the front yard.

The parents were due home that afternoon, so Gandalf stayed and walked back to Bag End with Frodo and Bilbo after saying a fond farewell to the kids he had found so enchanting _before_ he had spent an evening with them. Gandalf was a very wise wizard, but he felt he was a little wiser now.


End file.
